Pretty Eyes
by Nairobi-Harper
Summary: Arnold compliments Helga on her eyes, leading to a game between the two of them.


Author's note: Okay, so it's 4 am and I need something to write, because for some reason I'm still not in the bed and I know that I should be in the bed but at the same time it's like my brain is trying to stop me from sleeping or something stupid…

I can't promise that this will be my last piece of material (hopefully my last piece of material before I go off to bed,) but I hope that everyone that reads this enjoys!

This fic takes place after TJM, by the way guys J And they are at the boarding house, working on a History project.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold, this lovely show belongs to Craig Bartlett!

 **Her Eyes**

"Your eyes are really pretty, Helga."

At this revelation, the girl in question looked up from her History textbook, her eyes widened and her face tinted with pink. " _What_ did you say, Football Head?"

Arnold, who had paid her the compliment, stared at his History textbook intently as he blushed, pretending that he was concentrated on what the text was saying about the second American president. "…I said that your eyes are really pretty, Helga. They're blue, kind of like the ocean. They're pretty."

While Arnold pretended to turn the pages of the book with a light smirk on his face, Helga sat in her seat, shocked. _Arnold_ thought that her eyes were pretty! It wasn't the first compliment that he had ever paid to her, but it was really one of the first that he had paid toward her physical appearance. While she tried to maintain a face of indifference on the outside, her emotions were bubbling inside of her on the inside.

Arnold, on the other hand, had been hoping that his revelation would make his History partner flustered (and, as her face showed, Helga G. Pataki was as flustered as ever.) Ever since their shared kiss in the jungle, he had been trying to find new ways to make Helga blush; it was kind of fun, he had to admit, and even cute, to watch his typically scowling girlfriend become weak in the knees when he complimented her on almost anything.

He smirked, turning to face her with a raised eyebrow. "So, Helga… I think that I learned a lot about John Adams from this book. Did you learn anything new?"

Helga, however, was still contemplating just _why_ Arnold had complimented her eyes. Well… she supposed she knew why, as the two were dating, but why else would he compliment her like that? What was he trying to achieve?

Arnold continued smirking at her; he still thought that it was somewhat secretly cute that she was becoming so flustered over him just complimenting her _eyes._ Goodness, if _that_ made her flustered…

He tapped her shoulder. "Uh, Helga? I just kind of wanted to…"

She screamed suddenly, hopping so quickly out of the wooden chair that Arnold wondered just how energetic she was. "AH!" She ended up standing with two feet on the floor, still blushing as she glared daggers at Arnold. "Well Arnold, good job scaring your girlfriend out of her wits!"

Meanwhile, Arnold couldn't help but chuckle a bit, over how scared she had looked when she hopped into the air. When he recovered long enough to breath, he smirked again. "Well, Helga, maybe if you weren't so flustered by my compliment…"

As he said this, Helga had been putting all of the pieces together in her head. "Oh, so _that's_ what this is about, hmm? You wanted to make me flustered! Well, Football Head, I'll bet that you can't make me flustered anymore!" Her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her chest defiantly, Helga sat back down in the wooden chair as Arnold stared at her with an amused expression. "Well? Criminey Arnold, we don't have all day! Shower me with compliments!"

Though he tried to bite it back, Arnold burst out laughing.

"Criminey, what's so darn funny?"

Arnold, who couldn't help himself, just continued laughing.

"Hey Arnold, what the heck is so funny?"

Finally, Arnold wiped the tears from his eyes, and caught a breath, composing himself again. "Oh, it's nothing really, Helga. It's just kinda cute that you're trying to get me to give you tons of compliments by putting it under the guise of it being a game…"

Helga's eyes widened, and she found herself blushing again. She scowled to try and downplay it. "I'm not _trying_ to get you to shower me with compliments, Football Head! I could probably get you to do that even without a game." She grinned just for good measure, and went on. "I just… decided that maybe it should be a game, so that it can be more fun."

Arnold grinned again, shaking his head. "Oh, Helga…" Making sure that he was fully composed, he went on. "So then, Miss Pataki, how does this game work?"

Mentally, Helga was fawning over the fact that he had called her by her last name. On the outside, she tried to explain the way that she wanted the game to work calmly. "Well, it's pretty simple, Football Head. _You_ give me a compliment and if I get flustered, you just give me another one." She smiled, pleased with herself. "Works perfectly."

Arnold narrowed his eyes at her. "Helga, that's not going to work. That'll just be me spending the whole game complimenting you." He grinned suddenly. "Why not this? If I compliment you and you get flustered, then you have to compliment me." He didn't miss the way that Helga's eyes widened a little at that, but didn't acknowledge it either. "Sure, it doesn't make that much sense, but at least this way it's _fair_." He narrowed his eyes at her once again playfully before smiling. "So, deal?"

Helga gulped, and then sighed. "Deal."

"Okay, do you want to start or do you want me to start?" Arnold asked. He already knew exactly what the answer would be…

"I want you to start, Football Head," Helga said, grinning like there was no tomorrow.

Arnold rolled his eyes playfully. "Oh, alright then." He pretended to be thinking. "Hmm… well, your hair is as soft as a blanket." He grinned, because there was no way that Helga wouldn't turn completely red over hearing _that_.

And, alas, she went completely red. "O-Oh… okay." She mentally made a note to comb her hair through every time before she came to the boarding house. "Uh… my turn I guess." She, too, pretended to be thinking of something, but she had been in love with Arnold for so many years now that she barely even _needed_ to think of something; she just knew exactly what to say. She grinned before she said it. "Well, Football Head, while we're on the topic of hair, I think that your cornflower hair just might be better than my golden locks."

Arnold, as expected, blushed. "Well, thanks Helga… that's something I'll keep in mind." He smiled. "My turn." Helga braced herself as she prepared for Arnold to say something. "I think that your nose is cute."

This time, Helga was not only flustered, but also surprised. For years, she had endeared nothing but teasing about her nose; people at school told her that it was bulbous and far too big to be a "girl's nose." She was lucky enough that she was growing into it now that she was eleven, but she still didn't find her nose to be very cute at all. "Well… uh, thanks Football Head." She managed a weak smile, still a bit flustered, and tried to move on. "I like how strong you are. After all, you carried me through a jungle, and I'm pretty sure that we both know I'm taller than you…"

Arnold always blushed a little at any mention of what had happened in San Lorenzo, so it was no surprise that when a compliment was added in as well, his face became as red as a tomato. "Thanks, Helga. And well, you might be a couple inches taller than me, but you're at the perfect body weight – you're really healthy."

For the rest of that day, as opposed to finishing their homework on John Adams, Helga Pataki and Arnold Shortman instead spent the entire time flirting. They played their "game" for so long that by the time that Arnold's grandfather Phil came in, the two hardly even realized that they had been taking up so much time.

"Hey, Shortman, it's time for your little girlfriend here to be going home!" Phil said. While Arnold and Helga both blushed at the term "girlfriend," neither denied it.

Gertie suddenly came into the room, wearing a cheerleader outfit and dancing. "You go, lady Eleanor! Have a great time at the White House!"

Phil rolled his eyes playfully. "Oh, Gertie, she's just a kid!" He smirked, glancing between Helga and Arnold. "You know, Gertie, I think these two kids had a little somethin' they were doin."

Gertie grinned back. "Oh, I see what you mean!"

Phil grabbed Gertie's hand, still grinning. "Well Helga, it was nice havin' you over here, but we reckon that you'll come down when you're ready…" With that, Phil and Gertie headed downstairs.

As she watched them go, Helga raised her eyebrow, chuckling somewhat. She then turned to Arnold. "And as for us, Football Head… well, let's just say that that 'game' we were playing will be continued at school."

Arnold grinned. "Whatever you say, Helga."


End file.
